The Texas Game will be Very Interesting

[WilsonHog]

The Longhorns are about to bring a #2-ranked, 13-0 team into BWA, and one likely bent on exacting some revenge from last season.

There was a time when that game would have been a hot topic in college basketball circles.

There was a time when we would have packed 20,000 people in the Basketball Palace of Mid-America, and a ticket to that game would have been virtually impossible to get for face value.

Now the game is pretty much an afterthought outside of Arkansas, and not a whole lot is being said or written about it inside the state.

It is a curious game though, for several reasons.

So far this season we've averaged a little more than 7,000 in actual attendance at BWA. Our high-water mark has been a little over 10,000 for Missouri State. Will our fans show up for Texas? And if they don't, what's that say about the status of our program within our own borders?

Let's say we do put 15,000 in there Tuesday night. A good many of those people will be season-ticket holders who have been staying away, but who will show up because we're playing Texas.

Those people will walk away giving new life to John Pelphrey, or they'll walk away more pissed at him than ever before. Such is the nature of playing the Longhorns. It's possible that he could even garner some goodwill if we play them a good ballgame and come up three or four points short...but if we get hammered the atmosphere in Bud Walton Arena could be as ugly as anything John Pelphrey has ever seen at Arkansas, and the aftermath unforgiving.

There is no more football to cut the sting, no baseball to ease late season pain. Pelphrey and his basketball program is center stage for all to see.

It's gonna be worth watching.
   

[WBOBO]

Wilson, I think if 10,000 show up it will be a miracle.  And I also think after the game those 10,000 will walk
away with a sick feeling of state of the Razorback Basketball program.   Does it really matter if we lose by 3 or 30?
I am sick of losing.  No more moral victories in losing.

[akp4105]

there will easily be 12,000 people there.

[claycohog]

there will easily be 12,000 people there.

I agree.

[tomahawkhog]

not sure...weather is terrible in NWA and it's going to be COLD Tuesday night.  I'm staying at home and watching on ESPN.

[Marshfieldhog]

There will be 14k at the game..we will keep it close, only to lose on a last second shot because pel puts only 4 players on the court.

[UncleFrank]

Wonder what kind of defense Pel will employ when Texas is inbounding underneath their own basket? 

[StubbsGOhogs]

Do the crickets count towards attendance lol! Seriously though Texas could conceivably have the fan advantage sad to say but could come true!

[Fletch]

I think there will be close to 15,000 there.

[UncleFrank]

So far this season we've averaged a little more than 7,000 in actual attendance at BWA. Our high-water mark has been a little over 10,000 for Missouri State. Will our fans show up for Texas?

Well, now, Texas is no Missouri State!  Think about it!
You can't expect the die-hard fans to turn out in droves for some second-rate school like Texas, in the same numbers they do for 'big dogs' like Missouri State!

If I were guessing, though (and I suppose I am, aren't I?), I would say somewhere between 10,000-15,000, depending on how brutally cold it is and whether or not they're expecting any snow/sleet/ice before the evening is over.

(That kinda stuff always reminds me of a game back in the mid-90s, when Georgia came to town, and the great Larry Munson--who was only in his 70s then--was still the 'Voice of the Dawgs'. It was cold and snowing during the game itself. I was in college and listening to the game on WSB in Atlanta, to get a perspective from the other side. Munson went on for a bit about how very cold it was in Fayetteville, and mentioned how it was snowing outside--not something you see a lot of in Atlanta--and then summed up his feelings about NWA in general by calling Fayetteville 'this god-forsaken place'...Ha Ha Ha!  Munson was a neat old coot! 

[Oliver]

There will be a lot of people there.  It's Texas.  Arkansas fans despite being in the SEC for around 20 years now still think their season lives and dies with the result of a Texas game.  It's why some people were okay with Hootie's inexcusable 0 for October the year we took down Texas in Austin.  It's one of the few things that Pro-Pel people still harp on as a reason to give Pelphrey more time..."Well Pelphrey beat Texas last year and they were a top 10 team..."  And when we lose by a ton of points to Texas this week, a lot of the Anti-Pel people will lash out at Pelphrey more than they have since he's been here.

I for one don't really care.  I hate Texas and like to beat them...but they are just another team and are more irrelevant than any team we play in the SEC.  I'd replace a win against Texas with a win against an SEC opponent...in any sport.  So sure, I'll be PO'd when we lose to Texas this week but it won't have anything to do with the fact that we're playing Texas. 

[ArkieBrat]

I will watch the game at home....where it is warm....but I draw the line at watching his post game interview.  OMG, I found that to be a painful experience early on.  Does he still pick his nose on camera? 

[Triple T]

1. It's Texas
2. They're #2 in the nation
3. They're Texas

BWA will have at least 18,000 there to watch the Hogs get creamed.